Libaterra
| region = Northeast in the Land of the Living Shared borders with: *Maar Sul (west) *Yamato (south) | languages = | races = | ethnic groups = | demonym = Libaterran ---- | religion = ---- | factions = | government = Various governments (since 1005 AE) | head of state = Queen | leader1 = Shyla Locken (until 1000 AE) ---- | head of government = Notable leaders | leader2 = ---- | executive = | judiciary = Anti Mage Police (Magicracy of Alent) | formation = | ageoftga = Third Age | p1 = Augustia | p2 = Silecia | s1 = Andaria | flag_s1 = Andaria.png | s2 = Celenia | s3 = Goldshire | s4 = Portiguara | flag_s4 = Portiguara.png | s5 = Tevinth | s6 = Trinity Gask | s7 = Valencia | flag_s7 = Valencia.png | s8 = Zion }} Libaterra was a Third Age nation which was originally its own continent until the Cataclysm connected the continents and made it share borders with the nations of Maar Sul in the west and Yamato in the south by 1006 AE. It was the home of several unique tribes and subraces. Following the Reactor Core Explosion, its former capital Lutherin was renamed Alent, the base of the most notable faction in the region. Since the Cataclysm and until the end of the Third Age, Libaterra was in a state of war as various factions scrambled for land and power over the other factions. After the Catastrophe of 1017 AE, Libaterra ceased to be and was succeeded by various smaller nations such as Andaria, Tevinth and Valencia at the dawn of the Fourth Age. History Origins :See: Augustia, Silecia The world suffered terribly after the Explosion which rearranged the old continents of the Second Age and began the Third Age. What had once been the nations of Augustia and Silecia collided and became known as Libaterra. Battles were waged over the early years of Libaterra's history at the beginning of the Third Age until one warlord, Baal Locken, succeeded in crushing the remaining Augustian and Silecian warlords and put an end to the bloodshed between various factions. This warlord united the human areas, made peace with the elves and dwarves for a time, and founded a dynasty carrying his name. Thus the House of Locken came to power with Baal as king who initially ruled from the city of Reign. Baal's descendants would eventually move the capital of the monarchy from Reign to the grand city of Lutherin, leaving Reign as a summer retreat for their dynasty. The Lockens' rule was both benevolent but also fierce at times because they made sure to quell any insurrections from dissident parties and would-be separatists. It was because of their actions that the Itica race were nearly driven to extinction and why the elves rarely ventured out of the woods in the following centuries. However, the elves did provide weapons for the Lockens in exchange for remaining autonomous. Although the Lockens' hold over the Heartlands of Central Libaterra was absolute, they traded with several autonomous areas such as with the Celenian elves of Illunii as well as the Fraquid of Traquine, Sarquil of Vanna and the Simoe of Faerine among others. Libaterra became known as a melting pot of a nation which rivalled even the cultural mix of Maar Sul itself thanks to its several prominent ethnic groups with which it had an uneasy peace. Distreyd Era Civil War The first time the Locken Dynasty and its supporters, the Locken Loyalists, were truly threatened was when a new faction, the Rebels, rose to oppose them in the late 10th century AE. The Rebels, consisting mostly of former military officers, western land owners and peasants led by the charismatic Mae Torazo, demanded autonomy from Lutherin for Western Libaterra and founded their own capital, Trinity Gask, where the Rebel army began gathering its forces and grew in numbers in direct response to raised taxes which had made peasants' lives difficult in the west. The assassinations of King Samiel Locken and Queen Fara Locken at the hands of the Fang mercenary group during the tumultous Sarquil insurrection of the Rose of the Desert in 987 AE led to surviving Lockens led by King Samiel's uncle, Duke Ferdinand Locken, blaming the Rebels for hiring the mercenaries and urging the Loyalists to align with the Clergy of Nergal and fight against the Rebels shortly before Duke Ferdinand was assassinated by an unknown cloaked individual. The infant Princess Shyla Locken was kept safe in Lutherin, and a council of regents consisting of ministers ruled until she would come of age as queen. The Locken Loyalists tried to quell the rebellion as they had done to several earlier insurrections, but this time they found their match in the Rebels who, despite not being as trained as the Loyalists, had other advantages such as shady and powerful allies who ranged from necromancers like the enigmatic Drakon to dark clerics and would-be warlords. The conflict between the Locken Loyalists and the Rebels escalated into the Libaterran Civil War, and the areas ruled by the Loyalists and Rebels were separated by what became known as the Blood Border. The death of Mae Torazo in a coup organized by the Rebel General Yoshimuriko eventually led to drastic measures in 1000 AE, and Yoshimuriko led the Rebel troops, whom his lieutenants had trained rigorously, straight to Lutherin in a surprise move which caught the Loyalists by surprise as they had not expected the Rebels to be so bold as to actually attack the capital so soon. The First Battle of Lutherin ended in the Rebel victory although they never managed to capture the last reigning monarch, Queen Shyla Locken, who had mysteriously disappeared from the capital some time earlier and who had last been sighted in Rebel territory. Yamatian Occupation The Rebels' bloody rule over Libaterra came to an end when the Yamatian Invasion began in 1001 AE. Libaterra, weakened by the aftermath of the civil war, was no match for the armies of the Yamato Empire and its blitzkrieg tactics, and Yamatians soon conquered the kingdom and made the Rebel overlords to either pledge loyalty to Shogun Masamori Hyuga or die. The Rebels were not annihilated; instead, Yoshimuriko became the head of the Clergy of Nergal and acted as the Yamatians' ally in the years of the Yamatian occupation although some forces, most notable the small but vicious Red Sun, waged a small guerrilla war against the new Yamatian overlords. Although the Yamato Empire conquered most of the continent, they were unable to annex the Tronin Desert, whose harsh environment and Sarquil inhabitants proved to be diffult obstacles to conquer, and the Celenian Forest whose elves likewise managed to use the terrain and magic to their advantage. Yamatians only managed to rule Libaterra for three years before several events led to them losing their grip on the kingdom. First, the mythic Faerfolc appeared in the kingdom and began what became known as the Faerfolc Rampage during which they killed thousands in their bloodlust before they settled into elven forests. Second, the Grand Alliance, which had risen in response to Yamatian tyranny, led its army to liberate the kingdom from the Yamato Empire in the Great War but accidentally caused the Reactor Core Explosion which destroyed Lutherin in a flash of light and turned Libaterrans against both Yamato and the Alliance and forced them to flee and continue their campaign in other kingdoms. Libaterra was devastated in the aftermath of the Faerfolc Rampage and the Reactor Core Explosion in 1006 AE. It was only thanks to the efforts of a mage named Jemuel and his cadre of mages who managed to save the Libaterran Heartlands by containing the blast radius of the explosion with a magic shield. Although Lutherin was ruined in the explosion, the powers of the shattered reactor core had made old Alentian ruins of the Second Age rise to the surface. Jemuel and his mages rebuilt Lutherin and renamed it Alent to honour the ancient kingdom which had once ruled the world. The Magicracy of Alent was born. Godslayer Era Rise of Factions The Cataclysm did not affect Libaterra much at least initially although events were set in motion which would lead to bigger events in the future over the following decade. While Alent tightened its grip on Central Libaterra, various Sarquil tribes of the Tronin Desert banded together and founded the Sultanate of Karaganda under the leadership of Sultana Adela al-Saif. The elves of Illunii in the Celenian Forest became the subjects of their new Faerfolc overlords. The Rebels, now led by Warlady Glaurung Losstarot who was backed by the Mullencamp cult, rose to prominence once again beyond the Blood Border while old Rebel sympathizers such as Yoshimuriko and Endoran L'Sarius acted beside her. The balance of power shifted in late spring 1017 AE when the Proninist Party and the Totenkopfs sided with the Rebels and formed the Crimson Coalition to oppose the growing power of both Alent and the Second Grand Alliance. Soon other factions such as the Clergy of Nergal and Dark Elves joined the Coalition's growing army, partly to promote their individual agendas but also to thwart the ambitions of Alent. The tension between Alent and the Crimson Coalition eventually escalated into a full-blown conflict in the Second Great War: the Coalition saw the Alentians as usurpers who desecrated both Rebel and Locken legacy and who had to be ousted from power while the throne of Libaterra would be returned to its rightful owner, Queen Shyla Locken. Many Alentians simply did not believe these statements of the long-missing queen's supposed return and believed them to be mere propaganda which the Coalition used to rally ex-Locken sympathizers to join its cause. Invasions and Aftermath Things turned even more dire when the demonic Northern Horde moved out of the ruins of Yamato, invaded the Tronin Desert and won the brutal Battle of Vanna, which forced the surviving Sarquil to flee north to the magicracy's lands. The Sarquil refugees settled into Alent while the Northern Horde turned Vanna into its new base of operations for its Libaterran campaign. Alent faced threats from two sides by the summer of 1017 AE: the Coalition from the west and the Northern Horde from the south. Various battles eventually led into a three-way conflict between these prominent factions over the lands of Central Libaterra which culminated in the Battle of Alent. The battle and the Second Great War came to a sudden end in an event known as the Catastrophe which wiped out much of the armies and destroyed all of Alent, leaving behind the Anomaly and rearranging the continents once again but this time more violently than the Cataclysm had done. Legacy Libaterra was left in a state of turmoil in the chaotic aftermath of the Catastrophe as the power of various factions diminished considerably. This state of upheaval led to the rise of several new, smaller kingdoms and autonomous city-states such as Andaria, Tevinth and Valencia from the ashes of the old Libaterra at the dawn of the Fourth Age. Geography :See: Libaterra Map (Distreyd Era), World Map (Godslayer Era) The climate of Libaterra varies between areas: the southern desert is hot whereas the northern grasslands suffer from cold winds. The desert has to deal with the occasional demon raiding party from Yamato, and the forces of the Magicracy of Alent (who support Jemuel) and the Rebels (who oppose Jemuel) clash every once in a while in the mainlands. The heartlands are lush and have the Great River flowing through them. The Celenian Forest is the greatest forest, located in the heartlands. Geopolitics Since the Cataclysm, Libaterra was divided into six distinct areas based around big faction-controlled cities: Alent for the Magicracy of Alent, Gormin for the Fraquid Territories, Hidefall for the Union Workers, Illunii for the Celenian Elves, Trinity Gask for the Crimson Coalition, and Vanna for the the Sarquil Sultanate of Karaganda (which has fallen to the Northern Horde since the Battle of Vanna). Magicracy of Alent :See: Magicracy of Alent The central mainland that consisted of most of Libaterra was ruled by Archmage Jemuel from the city of Alent. Jemuel favoured meritocracy, so anyone with sufficient skills and powers could rise up the ladder and join the ranks of the Council of Mages, the city's elite. The vast libraries of the Magicracy of Alent drew mages of all sorts into the city, and the neverending pursuit of knowledge was the defining trait of those who lived in Alent while they also wished to expand their territories to secure Libaterra under one rule to combat the rising threat of demons. After the Battle of Vanna, the city also had a sizable minority of Sarquil refugees. Fraquid Territories :See: Traquine The Fraquid, also known as Snow Elves, established what was known as the Fraquid Territories north of Libaterra near the Traquine. The Territories were divided between various elven duchies, the most powerful of which was the Duchy of Gormin. The Fraquid, like their Celenian cousins, had chosen to isolate themselves from the rest of Libaterra since the Cataclysm, but they were constantly on guard in case Alent wanted to expand its territories north. This fear of Alentian invasion, as well as their past dealings with humans in previous conflicts, eventually led to the duchies siding with the Crimson Coalition against Alent in the war. Union Workers :See: Union Workers The influential thieves guild known as the Union Workers rose to prominence as another major player in Libaterran geopolitics in the final years of the Third Age. Led by the mysterious Assembly from the hidden thief city of Hidefall somewhere in the Ranger's Despair mountain range west of Alent, the Union remained in the shadows until the Second Great War when it chose to openly side with Alent in the war against the Crimson Coalition. Crimson Coalition :See: Crimson Coalition The area surrounding the city of Trinity Gask was ruled by the Rebels who opposed Alent's growing power and who refused to submit under Jemuel. They were poor compared to the rich mainland and had to rebuild their cities after having suffered through the Libaterran Civil War and the Yamatian Occupation. The Rebels joined forces with a few other factions and formed the Crimson Coalition, electing Warlady Glaurung Losstarot as the supreme leader of the Coalition in the war against Alent. Sultanate of Karaganda :See: Sultanate of Karaganda The Sarquil tribes lived in their autonomous area in the city of Vanna and the surrounding Tronin Desert until the Second Battle of Vanna. The tribes' last notable leader before their fall was Sultan Khalid al-Saif. Vanna had an uneasy truce with Alent: Vanna prevented demons from advancing into the mainland, and in exchange Alent sent various supplies such as food, water and weapons to Vanna. During the Second Great War, the areas around Vanna were besieged by the Northern Horde which took over the Sarquil capital and turned it into the horde's newest base of operations in their campaign to conquer Libaterra while the surviving Sarquil fled to Alent. The Sarquil were granted asylum in Alent but rioted when they learned of a hidden demon population within Alent which Alent were ostensibly protecting. The Threshold Riot and following skirmishes led to severe Sarquil casualties and ultimately the downfall of the noble houses of the desert by the end of the Third Age. Celenian Kingdom The Celenian Kingdom was located in the Celenian Forest in Central Libaterra, north of Alent. It had a sizable elven population who, like their Fraquid cousins, had chosen to isolate themselves from the rest of Libaterra after many Faerfolc settled into the forest at the end of the Faerfolc Rampage. The Eternal Court led by they fey lords King Domnhull and Queen Morrigan ruled over the Celenian Elves from the city of Illunii. Formerly allies of the Locken Loyalists, the elves swore allegiance to no one but themselves and their fey masters. Others Outside of the six major powers, other smaller, independent factions and cultures have existed or still exist on Libaterran soil. House of Seneron The House of Seneron and lesser merchant guilds ruled over the city Etheril and nearby villages in Northern Libaterra until the city chose to side with the Crimson Coalition and became one of its vassals. Simoe The Simoe were a mystic people who mainly lived near river basins west of the Tronin Desert and tried to keep to themselves. They were led by the Wise Women who lived in the town of Diduma. They worshipped water deities above all else as they saw water as a life-giving substance. Sinlarine The Sinlarine were a wandering people of shamans, warriors and artists, most of whom never settled into one place for long although some of the tribes had resided in the city of Reign for extended periods of time as a notable minority. Known for their grand events full of dancing, singing and ritualistic combat, namely Day of the Damned and Tsèni Tournaments, their close connection to the dead had made other Libaterrans dub them as "ghost people" or "ghost whisperers". The Sinlarien swore allegiance to no one, instead travelling from place to place in a seemingly neverending journey towards Enlightenment, although the Coalition made great efforts in forcing the Sinlarine to join them in their march to Alent at the end of the Third Age. Sirithai The Sirithai lizardfolk lived deep in the Tronin Desert and used their underground tunnels and their hidden underground fortress Xibalba to hamper the demons' advance and spy on their activities. They used to be hostile towards the Sultanate of Karaganda but had since then formed an alliance with the sultanate and the Grand Alliance, doing what they could to stall the demons of the Northern Horde. They were members of the Clergy of Shakkan and were led by Tlatoani Qadohi. Some Sirithai turned rogue and betrayed their human allies, leading to many casualties in battles such as the Battle of the Rivers, and the rest of their race seemingly disappeared from sight since. See also *Andaria *Augustia *Celenia *Dissolution of Libaterra *Faerfolc Rampage *Goldshire *Libaterra Map (Distreyd Era) *Libaterran Civil War *Libaterran Tribes *Locken Loyalists *Portiguara *Reactor Core Explosion *Rebels *Silecia *Sultanate of Karaganda *Tevinth *Trinity Gask *Valencia *World Map (Godslayer Era) *Zion * Category:Third Age nations